Our Souls at Night

One of the sadnesses of last year was the death at the age of 71 of the American novelist Kent Haruf, author of the Benediction trilogy. As he was dying he wrote Our Souls at Night, a final short novel which is a beautifully-created story of the surprising relationship between two older people, Addie Moore and Louis Waters. Within the relatively few pages Haruf packs the sense of the amplitude of entire lives. It is told in his characteristically understated manner, and its ending is sad, beautifully modulated and deeply moving. Highly recommended.

Here is an interview with his widow Cathy (you can also read the first perfect chapter).

(Apparently Jane Fonda and Robert Redford are playing the parts in a forthcoming Netflix film version: that should take the understatement out of the story).